IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 451 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Sergeant Charles 

Martland, a decorated member of the Special Forces, should be reinstated 

in the United States Army. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 

Mr. BUCHANAN (for himself and Mr. HUNTER) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

Sergeant Charles Martland, a decorated member of the 

Special Forces, should be reinstated in the United States 

Army. 

Whereas, according to a New York Times report, members of 

the United States Army and Marine Corps serving in Afghanistan were advised to observe cultural and religious 

practices and that sexual abuse perpetrated by local allies 

was a matter of Afghan law; 

Whereas one United States soldier said that, from his bunk 

at a base in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan 

police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to 

the base and that ‘‘at night we could hear them screaming but we’re not allowed to do anything about it’’; 


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•HRES 451 IH 

Whereas fighting in a foreign theater of war should not require members of the Armed Forces to turn a blind eye 

towards criminal perversion; 

Whereas protecting child predators is abhorrent and inconsistent with American values; 

Whereas Sergeant First Class Charles Martland left college 

to join the Army in response to the death in Afghanistan 

of former National Football League star Pat Tillman; 

Whereas Sergeant Martland has had an 11-year career in the 

Army’s Special Forces; 

Whereas while serving in Afghanistan, Sergeant Martland 

was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism, for jumping 

in the turret of a damaged Humvee, exposing himself to 

enemy bullets while returning fire to help his teammates 

gather sensitive equipment after their vehicle was struck 

by an improvised explosive device; 

Whereas Sergeant Martland courageously confronted a 

United States-backed Afghan military commander ‘‘for 

keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave’’; 

Whereas instead of commending Sergeant Martland for 

standing up to a child predator, the Army decided to 

expel him from the service; 

Whereas in September 2015, the Army rejected Sergeant 

Martland’s appeal to continue his service; 

Whereas Sergeant Martland’s dismissal will take effect on 

November 1, 2015; and 

Whereas members of the Armed Forces should be rewarded, 

not punished, for upholding American values: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 451 IH 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) members of the United States Armed 

4 Forces should not be punished for standing up to 

5 child rapists; 

6 (2) putting the interests of Afghan rapists 

7 ahead of American war heroes is a national disgrace; 

8 (3) the Americans who should be punished are 

9 those who created and condone the immoral and rep10 rehensible policy that encourages members of the 

11 Armed Forces to ignore child rape; and 

12 (4) the Secretary of Defense should imme13 diately order the reinstatement of Sergeant First 

14 Class Charles Martland as a member of the Army. 

Æ 


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